There was the usual noisy frolic of tap dancers and belly dancers, and there were the Brothers Papadakis performing their high-kicking Greek shuffle in front of the diners amid broken dishes and loud cheers.

If you had walked off the street and weren’t in the know, you’d have thought the status quo still was intact at the culinary institution at 301 West 6th Street in San Pedro called Papadakis Taverna.

Between giving his views on the departure of Pete Carroll from USC, the restaurant’s founder, John Papadakis, a one-time extraordinary linebacker for the Trojans, was all over the room, shaking hands, popping corks off wine bottles, telling jokes, keeping everyone in a state of joy as he’s done since opening the place in the summer of 1973.

But there was a pall of melancholy hanging over the proceedings.

John Papadakis might have kept a smile fixed to his face, but he admitted he was going through his hallowed ritual of merriment at the restaurant with a sense of sadness since he and his brother Tom have decided to close its doors at the end of the month.

“We’ll be open to January 31st, and then that’ll be it,” said Papadakis between hoisting a belly dancer onto a table and introducing major league pitcher Jeff Weaver, “Dream Weaver” singer Gary Wright and the prominent Long Beach restaurateur Phil Trani to the crowd. “I have a big empty pit in my stomach.

“This has been my life for 37 years. It’s going to be difficult to separate myself from this theatre where we’ve staged so many great productions. This is tough. I feel like I’m vacating a sacred post. I know that everything good comes to an end eventually, and I know it’s our time.

“I’m now 60 years old, and this is a young man’s game. I’ll probably get a hernia one of these nights lifting up a belly dancer. We’ve had a great run here when you think of the people who have dined here over the years – Heisman Trophy winners, astronauts, Academy Award winner, famous politicians, famous athletes and famous coaches. What great memories!”

Papadakis Taverna always has been a family affair, and the clan was out in force on this recent evening.

John Papadakis’ wife Donna was helping out and their three sons were present – Petros the Radio Guy, Taso the Photographer and Demetrius the UCLA Football Player.

Tom Papadakis’ wife Ellen was also helping out, as were their daughter Anastasia and son Evan.

Laughter and gladness pervaded the scene, and John Papadakis, as always, ignited a great part of it with his charismatic personality.

“It’s become harder and harder as you get older,” he said.

“I remember there was a time I’d get up early in the morning to surf, then go and work all day and night without a problem. Can’t do that now.”

He admits the restaurant business has been a mirror of the economy, and his has struggled in recent years even though there was no indication of such a slowdown on this evening in which the old room was filled to capacity.

“Like old times tonight,” said Papadakis in a wistful voice.

“Oh, what fond remembrances I have from here. Did you know Natalie Wood had dinner here with Robert Wagner the night before she had that tragic drowning accident at Catalina? What a wonderful person she was. I remember they wanted a cab to take them to the California Yacht Club, and I volunteered to take them. Very nice couple, and it’s terrible what happened to her.”

Papadakis has a reservoir of titillating stories to relate, although many aren’t for publication because of their sensitive nature.

“Unfortunately, the greatest ones have to remain off the record,” he said.

While John Papadakis is lowering the curtains for good on his establishment that has earned numerous culinary awards across the decades – “we’ve won more awards than any Greek restaurant in history” – he isn’t exactly fading quietly into the sunset.

He and Tom Papadakis will continue to oversee the family’s real estate holdings, and he will continue to pursue activities as an executive producer in the film industry.

“I’ve already been involved in two movies, and this is going to be the year we’re going to make `Turning Of The Tide’ into a movie,” he said, referring to the book he co-authored with Sam Cunningham and Don Yeager about the dramatic racial impact that USC’s game with Alabama in 1970 had on college football in the south.

“Hope to have Tommy Lee Jones playing Bear Bryant.”

He’s also heavily involved in the San Pedro Waterfront Project, but it’s what he won’t be involved any longer in a few weeks that has him subdued in private moments.

“I have the heart of a servant, and not to be serving people anymore is going to be an adjustment for me,” he said. “I’m going to miss it, no doubt about it. But nothing forever remains the same. I knew when I opened this place that one day I’d be closing it. And now that time, sadly, has come…”

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